Air conditioning



C. F. HENNEY AIR CONDITIONING Aug. 13, 1940.

Filed June 27, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet l N TOR $2M? BY; 7 z ATToRr'z: V

Aug. 13, 1940. c. F. HENNEY AIR CONDITIONING Filed June 27/1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 A s- 13, 1940; c. F. HENNEY 2,211,567

AIR CONDITIONING Filed June 27, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 g QIVENTOR ATTOREYS Aug. 13, 1940.' C.IF.HEQNNEY 2,211,567

AIR CONDITIONING Filed June 27, 1933 5 Sheets-$heet 4 A118. 13, 1940- c. F. HENNEY 2,211,567

AIR CONDITIONING Filed June 27, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 32 .13. lzz

7 WENT Patented Aug. 13, 1940 UNITED STATES AIR. CONDITIONING Charles F. Henney, Dayton, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to General Motors Corp ration, a corporation of Delaware Application June 27, 1933, seriiii No. 677,876

7 Claims.

This invention relates to air conditioning.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for conditioning air in compartments occupied by persons, and particularly passenger compartments in railroad cars or the like.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the'present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal cross-sectional view, partly diagrammatic, of a railroad car embodying features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the car shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view, somewhat similar to Fig. 1, but in which the invention embodies means for both heating and cooling the air in the car;

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the car shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a front view of the grille which may be used in air conditioning units used in the embodiment of the invention depicted in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive;

Fig. '7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a portion of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the front portion of an air conditioning unit of the type shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive;

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of a portion of the cage which holds the refrigerant liquefying unit under the car;

Fig. 10 is a top plan view of the cage shown in Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the suspension means for the cage shown in Figs. Sand 10; and

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic representation of a slightly modified form of cage and drives therefor. y

In practicing my invention, a car I 0 is provided with one or more compartments II in which the passengers congregate. Generally the compartment II has its longitudinal dimension substantially parallel to the longitudinal dimension of the car as shown inFigs. 1 and 2 and, in some instances, the compartment is substantially of the same width as the width of the car. Generally the compartment II is provided with a central aisle l2, and with seats l3 which people may occupy on each side of the aisle l2. In the In order to cool the air inthe compartment ll, air cooling meansor devices I5 are provided in the car at each end of the compartment.

These air cooling'devices are preferably located 3 along thevertical axis'of the compartment in the upper portion of the compartment, and are. so constructed that they discharge air in the form of blasts l6 and I! which travel in opposite directions along opposite sides of said compartment and above the normal height of the persons seatved in the seats H3. The air cooling devices I5 are provided withair intake means I8 located along theverticai axis of the compartmentyand, in this particular embodiment, the air intake means includes the door-way l9 and the opening 20 in the rear of the air conditioning means 15, so that the blast of air from the opposite unit or device is induced into the center of the aisle and then into the air conditioning devices without producing cold drafts which are likely to strike any person occupying the seats 13,

The air cooling means or devices it may be of any suitable construction'and, in this particular embodiment, include blowers 2i, driven by a motor 22, w ch blow air through the casing 23. The casing 59 contains a refrigerant coil or evaporator preferably including .tubes 24 and vertical fins 25. The air is forced by the fans 2! between the tubes and fins and is discharged in the form of a blast into the compartment Ii. In front of the evaporator there is provided a grille more particularly shown in Figs. 6,7, and 8. This grille 35 includes a plurality of horizontally disposed plates 26 which are provided with upwardly disposed deflectors 21. The plates 26 and a plurality of vertically disposed baflles 28 and 29 cooperate to form the blasts. In this particular embodiment, the vertically disposed baffles 28 and 29 are in the same vertical plane as the plates 26 and are assembled by passing the baiiles 29 through the holes made in the plates 26. The larger number of.vertically disposed bafiles, 29 are disposed to direct the air towards the side of the car while the smaller number of baflies 28 converge toward the bafiies 29 ment ll.

likely to cause any discomfort, the cold air from the upper turbulent zone settling gently into the quiescent zone below and thus cooling the entire compartment ll.

Fresh air may be introduced into the compart- This may be accomplished by connecting the insulated compartment I5, in which the devices l5 are placed, with the outside temperature by means of a conduit 15" provided with an adjustable valve l5' and an air filter of any suitable construction. The sub-atmospheric pressure produced by the suction of the fans 2|, withdraws air not only from the compartment II, but also from the outside of the car through the conduit l5" and discharges the same mixed with the air from the compartment ll, through the cooling device I5, into the compartment II.

The evaporators or cooling coils in the devices l5 may have a refrigerant circulated therethrough. This refrigerant may be cold brine or water, but preferably I use a volatile refrigerant which is evaporated in the coils 25. The refrigerant evaporated flows through the lines 30 to a refrigerant liquefying unit 3|. This refrigerant liquefying unit 3| may include a compressor 32 driven by an electric motor 33, which compressor discharges compressed refrigerant to a condenser 34, the condensed refrigerant flowing to a liquid refrigerant reservoir 35 from whence the liquid refrigerant flows through the lines 36, 31 and 38 and suitable expansion valves (not shown) to the cooling coils in the devices I5. The liquefyingunit 3| may be automatically controlled by a thermostat or hydrostat 39 which controls the operation of the liquefymg unit in accordance with air conditions in the compartment II by starting and stopping the operation of the m0- tor 33.

In the particular embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the car, being a dining car is also provided with a kitchen compartment 40. Because of the amount of heat generated in the compartment 40 by the stoves and other appliances, it is generally uneconomical to maintain this compartment in as cool a condition as the compartment Ii. However, it is desirable to maintain an open passageway between the compartments 40 and I I so that the waiters may pass back and forth without opening a door. Means are provided for preventing relatively warm air to enter compartment Ii from the relatively warm kitchen compartment 40. To this end the passageway (not shown) under the platform 4| is maintained open so that the waiters may pass between the compartments H and 40. A blower 42 withdraws air from the outside as shown at 43 and directs it in the form of a blast or jet 44 in front of the passageway under the platform 4|. The blower 45, driven by the motor 46 withdraws air from the compartment 40 and is made of larger volumetric capacity than the blower 42 and thus tends to create a slightly sub-atmospheric pressure within the compartment 40. This insures the passage of a slight amount of air from the compartment H to the compartment 43, sufficient to compensate for the difl'erence in the volumetric capacities of the blowers 42 and 45. This action prevents any warm air from passing to the kitchen to the dining compartment. The introduction of a large quantity of outside air through the blower 42 into the compartment 44.

tends to prevent a rise in temperature in this compartment very much above the outside atmospheric temperature. By this construction proper and economical ventilation and cooling are provided for the various compartments of the dining car.

Sometimes, particularly during mild weather, it is desirable to provide a small amount of heating in the passenger compartment, the amount being less than that generally provided by the usual heating equipment of the car. Under such conditions, the cooling equipment described with respect to Figs. 1 and 2 may be modified slightly, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, so that the equipment may be used to provide the slight amount of heating required. To this end, the casing 23a, corresponding to casing 23 in Fig. 2, is provided with a heating coil section 50, made of pipe having fins similar to the construction shown in Fig. 8. This section 50 is supplied with steam through the pipe 5|. The supply of steam is regulated by a thermostat 52 placed in the compartment Ha, similar to compartment I I in Figs. 1 and 2. A motor-driven fan 53 is placed in front of the heating section 50, with the axis of the fan 53 turned slightly down as indicated in Fig. 4. This construction, when used for heating, directs the heated air downwardly and elevates the temperature of the entire compartment uniformly both at the bottom of the compartment as well as at the top. This heating structure is provided at both ends of the compartment as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4.

The heating equipment above described, may also be used with the regular heating equipment 'of the diner, or with additional heating equipment specially installed near the floor of the compartment Ila. Thus one or more radiator sections 54 are placed along the sides of the compartment Ila adjacent the side walls, and these radiators receive steam from any suitable source of supply either in parallel or in series with the heater section 50. These radiator sections are supplied by steam lines 55 controlled by automatic or hand valves 56 which are also provided with by-passes at 51 so that water condensed in coils 50 may by-pass to the discharge trap 53 even when the radiator sections 54 are not used.

The fan 42a, corresponding to the fan 42 of Figs. 1 and 2, is provided with openings which may be selectively connected either to the outside of the car or ,to the inside of compartment 40a. When the weather is too cold outside, so that it would be uncomfortable to introduce only outside cold air through the fan 40a, the opening to the outside may be partly or fully closed and the opening to the inside of compartment 43a may be partly or fully opened so that a part of the air, at least, is recirculated from the compartment 40a and down through the jet 44a. Under such conditions, the speed or capacity of the fan 45a is reduced so that it will not withdraw too much air from the compartment Ila but will merely maintain a slightly lower pres sure in compartment 40a than in the compartment Ila.

Fig. 5 shows, in an enlarged view, those portions which have been added to Figs. 3 and 4 in order to change the cooling portions into heating and/or cooling portions. It is to be understood, that under certain conditions, it may be desirable to use both the cooling coils and the heating sections 50a at the same time. This happens where the dry bulb temperature is not very high, but where the relative humidity is excessive.,,, Under these conditions, it may be desirable merely to remove some of the humidity from the air, and this may be accomplished by cooling the air while passing through the cool- 7 5 ing coils, and reheating it to substantially its original temperature. -When so desired, thiscan be'accomplished by operating the cooling coils and the heating section 58a, and not using the radiators 54.

.While the refrigerant liquefying units'have been diagrammatically shown in the, ends of the-carin Figs. 1 to inclusive, it is preferable to suspend the refrigerant liquefying unit under neath the car'in'acage I8. This 'cageis made of angle irons and sheet 'metal covers as generally indicated in Figs. 9 and and is suspended from the framework of-the car with the longitudinal axis of the cage substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the car. The compressor is in the 'form of a four cylinder reciproc'ating compressor II having aflywheel I2 connectedby a plurality of V-belts I3 with a' pulley the fan 11.

I4 driven by a motor which has a D. C.'section I5 and an A. C. section I8, the axis of the motor extending through and being connected to 1 their field armature exciting lead "88 are connected to the electrical system of the car, while the A. C. leads 8I are connected to proper starting controls mounted on the car, to which a lead from the station current may be attached when the train stands idle at the station.

The cage I8 is formed'by angle irons at all of the cornered'ges and is provided with openings 82 and 83 at the ends and with an opening 84 at the side adjacent the center of the'car. A condenser 85 is placed at the opening 82, and a similar condenser, not shown, is placed at the opening 83. The fan 11, depending on the direction of rotation, either forces air through the opening 84 into the cage and then out through the openings 82 and 83, or, conversely, causing air to flow into the openings 82 and 83, through the cage, and out through the-opening 84. Ineither case, the various parts of the refrigerant liquefying unit are cooled by the flow of air. The compressor 'II discharges compressed refrigerant through the pipe 88 to the condenser 85 and through the pipe 81 to the condenser, not shown, in the opening 83. From the condensers the condensed refrigerant flows into the two receivers 88 from whence the liquefied refrigerant flows by a suitable pipe 88a to the evaporation or evaporators which cool the tent as the cage I8 and which are converged slightly towards each other as indicated in Fig. 10. These baflies 94 protect thecondensers in the openings 82 and 83 from flying stones, etc., and

I permit the fiow of air propelled by fan 'I'I out of the openings 82 and 83 regardless'of the direction of travel of the car without interference from v the air blast due to car motion. The cage I8 may be supported from the framework of theicar. Thus the angle irons I88 and IM of the cage I8 may be provided withopenings I82. On-the underside of the-angle iron I8 I, there are provided a plurality of rubber washers I83, in each of which there is embedded a metal sleeve m. The bolt I passes through the sleeve I84 and car frame I86 and hangs the cage on the car frame I88 of the car. The angle irons The D. C. leads "I8. la together with I88 and I.8I are secured'to other frame members I81 of the cage I8-as indicated in Fig. 11.1 By

this construction the cage is supported on rubber mountings which dampens the transmission of noise from the cage to the car.

' In the modification shown in Fig. 12, a form of cage and drive is provided in which, the compressor II8 may be driven from the axle of the station current. To this .end, the car axle III drives an electro-magnetic clutch I I2. The magnetic clutch, H2 is energized from any suitable, source of electric current, for instance from. the battery I I3 or dynamo II4 of the regular electric system of the car which is operated by the belt drive ,5 from the axle. The switch I I6 is used to-energi-ze or de-energize the clutch II2.- The motor III is of the type which may be operated from commercial current at the station when the train'is stationary, and is connected to a proper starting panel H8. The leads [IQ-maybe con nected to a suitable "plug which may be plugged into the line current at the station. The handles I28'a'nd I2I may be connected mechanically, so that when the motor II! is started by means of '.the handle I28, the magnetic clutch II2 is deenergized by the simultaneous operation of the handle I2I. 1

' car or from an electric motor'energiz'ed from the The cage shown in Fig. 12 is slightly modified 7 in that the condenser openings I22 and I23 are placed respectively at the end andside of the cage while the fan I24 is placed at the end of the cage. These changes make the cage shown in this figure adaptable tocar construction where the cage shown in'Figs. 9 and-10 is not adaptable. The fan I24 may blow. air into the cage or with,- draw air from the cage. The condensers shown in the openings I22 and I23 receive compressed refrigerant in parallel from the line I25 connected to the compressor H8, and the condensers discharge liquid refrigerant into the receiver I28 from whence liquid refrigerant flows through the line I2I to the evaporators in the car, the evaporated refrigerant returning through the line I28. As indicated in the drawings, belts I29, I38 and I3I connect the shaft I32 with the compressor I I8, motor In and fan I24 respectively;

While the embodiments of the invention as herein disclosed, constitute preferred forms, it is to be understood that other forms might be claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A car having a compartment of a width substantially equal to the width of the car and a length substantially greater than the width of said compartment, an air cooling member in said car at each end of said compartment having air discharge means directing blasts of cooled air in opposite directions, along opposite sides of said compartment and above the normal heighth of persons occupyingthe sides of the compartment, air intake, means for said members, heating means at each end of said compartment and fans located at each end of said-compartment, each of said fans having a downwardly directed heated air discharge.

2. A car'having a'compartment of a width substantially equal to'the width of the car and a length substantially greater than the "width of said compartment,-a n air cooling member in said persons occupying the sides of the compartment, air intake means for said members, each of said air cooling members having air heating means, and fans located at each end of said compartment in front of said air discharge means, each of said fans having a downwardly directed air discharge.

3. A car having a compartment of a width substantially equal to the width of the car and a length substantially greater than the 'width of said compartment, an air heating member in said car at each end of said compartment having air discharge means directing blasts of air in opposite directions, along opposite sides of said compartment and above the normal heighth of per sons occupying the sides of the compartment, air intake means for said members, and fans located at each end of said compartment in front of said air discharge means, each of said fans having a downwardly directed air discharge.

4. A car having a compartment to be cooled, means for cooling said compartment including an evaporator, a cage suspended under said car, openings in said cage, a condenser at one of said openings, a reversible fan for circulating air into and out of said cage located at another of said openings, a compressor in said cage, a live axle drive for said compressor and fan reversing with reversal of said car, said compressor, condenser and evaporator being in refrigerant circulating relationship.

5. A car having a refrigerant liquefying unit suspended beneath its floor and including a boxlike cage having a substantially closed side along the side of the car and having openings towards the ends and center of the car, a compressor within said cage, condensers at certain of said openings and a fan at one of said openings, said condensers being connected to said compressor, and baffles between said box and the ends of said car.

6. A car having a compartment, an air cooling member in said car at one end of said compartment having air discharge means directing a blast of cooled air along one side of said compartment and above the normal height of persons occupying the side of the compartment, air intake means for said member, heating means at said end of said compartment and a fan located at said end of said compartment having a downwardly directed heated air discharge.

'7. A car having a refrigerant liquefying unit suspended beneath its floor and including a boxlike cage having a substantially closed side along the side of the car and having openings towards the ends and center of the car, a compressor within said cage, condensers at certain of said openings and a fan at one of said openings, said condensers being connected to said compressor, and bafiies protecting the end openings, said baflles converging slightly toward each other.

CHARLES F. H'ENNEY. 

